LogFAQs > #967590585

Pokemon Trainer - Pokemon Legends: Arceus

I really dont like the narrative progression of the Pokemon series. Basically trying to become a super-athlete and gaining the abilities to stomp out injustice where you see it was fine, a noble goal, combines the child superhero fantasy with the child super-athlete fantasy, be the very best, gotta catch em all, Blue is a dick. But slowly, you stop becoming every kids power fantasy and start becoming a very generic RPG chosen one. Your heart is what speaks to Suicune, your purity letting it choose you as a potential master. You hear Dialga and Palkas cries, and they respect your power enough to bend a knee to you and allow you to capture them. You are the chosen one who gets to save an alternate dimension from the evil Deoxys meteor and fly with Mega Rayquaza into space. Whatever the Hell that stuff with Rose is in Sword and Shield just stopping the actual fun part of the game so we can have Apocalyptomon come through the sky. I miss when Pokemon was a straightforward, personal narrative, rather than one of massive stakes and gravitation. You can still tell an effective story without saving the world mixed in there, its fine! My only major exceptions are Black and White, where clearly a ton of gravitas was being placed on the story so a tone shift befitted the direction of save da world, and Colosseum, where youre a defected evil team member and thus get a different starting point than you want to be the very best, but also have you heard of the ULTRA BEASTS?!

Anyway, all that is to say that Legends Arceus just isekais you into ancient times and that sets up you being special a lot better because gods just screwing with you via your smartphone. Plus, like its the game where you actually play as the trainer for more than overworld navigation. Youre running around having stand battles trying to get out of the way of the collateral damage and help your Pokemon overcome any challenge more directly than simply ordering them around. It actually feels good to control the Pokemon Trainer. Nice!

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I mean, theres one game where they actually function, and one game where they dont. The one where they function wins. I wont go into the individual Pokemon here compared to the high concept, but needless to say, thank you for fixing Ivysaur and making her fun to play as. Pokemon Trainer is a great high concept of a character, a three-in-one with playstyles befitting different stages of a match both offensively and defensively, trying to make the best decisions possible to defeat foes. And its done SO much better than either Zelda/Sheik or Pyra/Mythra, and I dont even think the latter does it badly! Pokemon Trainer takes the high concept and rolls with it incredibly well, to the point where people clamor for trainers from other regions to get the same treatment and get more Pokemon represented. Thats a successful design; if they sucked, we wouldnt have that! Each of the Pokemon fulfills their role very well, the ebb and flow of tossing different ones out is good, being able to change in the air is a godsend that allows the character to have actual options and flexibility.. yeah! Its just very nicely done! A

Inkling - Splatoon

Somehow Ive never gotten around to playing Splatoon 2. Im sure its good, but I just missed the boat on its launch and the drop of the Octo Expansion and had other stuff to pursue, and now the third games coming along. But in any case, consider this write-up to be praise of the simple act of movement in the Splatoon series. The ability to turn into a squid and make strategic retreats or blitzkreig approaches as long as you have territory control feels fantastic, getting you right back into a game after a respawn and making you feel like you have options and outs to the classic my opponent ganked me now Im dead feel. However, its one that you and your opponent are constantly giving and taking from, removing the defensive effectiveness of the technique the more you spray and pray around them until youre finally caught. The moment to moment gameplay of Splatoon is fabulous, shooting feeling utterly fantastic and mixing in with its movement system so perfectly and naturally that it takes standout shooters like Titanfall to match it in sheer mobility options. I dont think it translates nearly as well to single-player challenges, I find those pretty rote and simple when you could get some real Neon White/Mirrors Edge type stuff out of it instead of whatever Salmon Runs supposed to be. But man, what a great gameplay base.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - Inklings good. I find myself having surprisingly little to say about the character - they feel good to play, they function good, ink isnt presented in a way that combos with mobility so Im a bit disappointed but I understand the trade-off they were going for, they have a shield special which annoys me that every amateur Smash concept designer demands should be a universal mechanic for all characters. Inkling is just aggressively good as a character design but I think what gets me about them is that theres not a satisfying finisher for the character. Their Smash Attacks feel very incidental in the damage they deal, hitting someone in the face with a giant paintbrush lacking the impact of other kill moves. Their Up Air is a good kill, but lacks the impact or flourish of other fancy finishing strikes. I know its not impossible to mix the kind of streetwise finesse and satisfying kills together - Jokers in the game and does it well and Ive PLAYED as Eddy Gordo, I know how good it can feel - but Inkling just seems to seal stocks as a matter of course rather than as something they build up to. I know Im spending a lot of time griping about Inkling when my feel is generally positive, but all they do well just feels fairly obvious and yeah, its a good base for a Smash Bros character, it just never goes beyond good and that bugs me. B